Deng s China From Post-Maoism to Post-Marxism

to Post-Marxism Kalpana Misra Ideological reorientation in China, which began in the Iate-1970s, was borne out of the need to invalidate the hitherto 'standardised' and 'immutable ' Soviet socialist model, and to move beyond the limitations of classical Marxism. In emphasising subjectivity and a moral-ethical interpretation of humanism, which was found lacking in Lenin's theory of reflection, the post-1978 thinking undermined the centrality of class and ultimately the party's claim and authority as a representative entity. Yet this intellectual reassessment failed at furnishing a new persuasively and coherently articulated ideological framework since it did not address the adverse long-term political and socio-economic consequences of economic liberalisation.